The Hildebeast Returns

The list included rankings, with those who were considered the most egregious traitors by Clinton loyalists receiving the worst possible score of 7 on a point scale. Then-Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who would ultimately succeed Clinton as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, was among those receiving the blackest of black marks, according to the book HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by The Hill's Amie Parnes and Politico's Jonathan Allen.

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Oh, noes! Hitlery is back! The Hildebeast walks the night!

You have to be playing with your toes in the oatmeal to believe that this "list" has any relevance whatsoever. Do you honestly believe that, if Hillary Clinton runs for president in 2016, she's going to do so with vengeance in her heart for establishment people like John Kerry and Chris van Hollen? To say nothing of how utterly beside the point of anything today is whatever animosity she once might have felt for Ted Kennedy.

"Years later," Parnes and Allen write, Clinton aides "would joke about the fates of folks who they felt had betrayed them. 'Bill Richardson: investigated; John Edwards: disgraced by scandal; Chris Dodd: stepped down,' one said to another. 'Ted Kennedy,' the aide continued, lowering his voice to a whisper for the punch line, 'dead.'"

Apparently, Ms. Parnes and Mr. Allen have managed to get to this advanced age without once seeing Animal House -- "Marmalard? Dead!" -- and also without developing a sense of humor of any kind. This is a problem we are going to have if Clinton runs for president. There is an entire generation of political reporters who came of age during the protracted pursuit of the president's penis around the Beltway between 1992 and 1998. This required them to imbibe a lot of snake oil. This required them to take Bob Barr and Kenneth Starr seriously. This required them to take "Whitewater" -- whatever that was -- seriously. It froze into the profession the kind of impulse toward pure gossip of the kind for which the Clintons always have been remarkable attractors, and of which this particular story is a pristine example. There is no news here that is in anyway relevant to what may happen in 2016. It is merely an excuse to put the phrases "Hillary Clinton" and "Enemies List" in the same sentence. There is going to be a lot more of this. I just hope the country's immune system has become strong enough to resist it.

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